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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 19, 1900. 



til time had whitened their once black or red hair, without 

 making much progress in this line : in fact, many imagine 

 they have no home market to develop. 



Again, let me cite something that will make my mean- 

 ing in this respect clear. Some time ago Mr. F. L. Thomp- 

 son, who, altho not engaged in our pursuit long, is a well 

 educated, intelligent man, and a readj' — indeed, I think, 

 owing to the many remarks he has made about what I have 

 said, he should be willing to allow me to say that he is 

 almost a too ready — writer, told me in the American Bee 

 Journal some time ago in a very interesting way how he 

 attempted to develop his home market. Probably most of 

 those who read this also read what he said, so I will only 

 say that his plan was peddling or canvassing from house 

 to house. He met with such poor success that he decided 

 that in his locality there was no home market worth devel- 

 oping, at least for him. 



Now note the case of Mr. R. C. Aikin, of the same State 

 (Colorado) ; he has in time developt a home demand which 

 I believe takes thousands of pounds more to supply than he 

 produces, and if I am right he is engaged more extensively 

 and produces much more hone3' than Mr. Thompson does ; 

 and from reading what both have said in regard to their 

 localities, I judge that in Mr. Thompson's locality the pos- 

 sibilities for creating a large home demand were much bet- 

 ter than in Mr. Aikin's. It is my belief that the only 

 localities in which a large home demand can not be created 

 are those in which lack of papulation prevents. But even 

 in sparsely inhabited localities the chances are far greater 

 than many would think. 



Let us imagine a territory embracing 20 miles in each 

 direction from a bee-keeper. Suppose it has only 10,000 in- 

 habitants; this, counting the residents of the towns and 

 villages it might contain, would be a very sparsely settled 

 region, indeed, but if each person, on an average, cpnsumed 

 five pounds of honey yearly, tho it would mean only a small 

 fraction of an ounce per day for each, and they could con- 

 sume this much by taking it in the form of pills, the way 

 Mr. Thompson has suggested, still it would take 50,000 

 pounds to supply their annual demand. 



Of course, I am fully aware that there are many persons 

 in all localities who do not, and who probably could not be 

 induced to, use any honey at all ; on the other hand, tho, 

 there are many who consume more than five pounds an- 

 nually, and a great many more that could without much 

 difficulty be induced to do so. 



Now, the only way that the consumption and demand 

 for honey can be increast is by advertising. At first this 

 seems like a strange assertion. I can imagine some one 

 saying, " Cut the price down say one-half, and see if it does 

 not increase its consumption and demand." My friend, 

 that would be advertising in one of its most effective forms, 

 but an unprofitable way to the producer. 



Another might say, "I never advertise, but I produce a 

 first-class article, and my sales are increasing each year." 

 This is another and more profitable form of advertising ; 

 that is, in this case the goods advertise themselves, owing 

 to their merit. But this form may under many conditions 

 be far too slow to secure the practical results that would be 

 attained in combination with other forms. Advertising 

 combined with merit is the secret of success in almost all 

 forms of business, and sometimes advertising alone brings 

 great success in a financial way when merit is nearly, if 

 not entirely, lacking ; and the number of effective ways or 

 forms of advertising are great and varied. 



For instance, P. T. Barnum used elephants to plow 

 with, not because the work could be done cheaper with 

 them than with horses, but simply as an advertisement, 

 and he took good care to see that the plowing done with 

 these ponderous beasts was where it would be daily seen — 

 not only by a great number, but also great numbers of dif- 

 ferent people. But it must be borne in mind that Barnum 

 was too shrewd a man to expect any full or adequate imme- 

 diate returns for this expensive work with animals that 

 cost more money in those days than many of us can accu- 

 mulate with bees in a lifetime, and no immediate returns 

 could be expected from the large sums of money he spent 

 to have long lines of railroad cleared. But again he took 

 great care that the anxious, delayed passengers should 

 know that they could not proceed because the road was 

 cleared for Barnum, who was coming thru on a special train. 



Now, many forms of advertising I have practiced to in- 

 crease the local demand for our product have brought in 

 far less immediate returns than the effort expended justified 

 me in expecting, but, as with Barnum, it has all told in the 

 long run, and the success I have achieved in this respect is 

 due to advertising in varied ways the fact that I am a pro- 



ducer of honey that is first-class of its kind. And in our 

 pursuit no really permanent success can be obtained unless 

 we produce first-class goods, but it is advertising that en- 

 ables me to annually dispose of thousands of pounds in my 

 local market, and which brings people from 20, and even 

 30, miles distant. 



As I mentioned at the beginning, peddling from house 

 to house I consider a poor method of advertising, at least so 

 far as immediate returns are concerned, but it can be done 

 in such a way that it will result in much future benefit. Of 

 course, tho, locality and the man will make a great differ- 

 ence in the sales that can be made in a house to house can- 

 vass ; this was my first method of trying to develop my 

 home market, and it was persistently followed for some 

 time, but this work was to me so disagreeable, and the re- 

 sults so far from what I desired, that it was long ago en- 

 tirely abandoned for easier but much more effective meth- 

 ods of advertising, and altho I have perhaps already said 

 more in relation to this matter than many will care to read, 

 there is so much more I would like to say that I shall, if the 

 editor permits, continue the subject in my next, in which 

 will be described more in detail the most practical form of 

 advertising that I have practiced. 



Southern Minnesota. 



Improvement in Stock the Most Hopeful Field in 

 Commercial Bee-Keeping'. 



BY |. E. CRANE. 



I DO not suppose that all of the honey secreted by the 

 flowers will ever be gathered, even by the best of bees, 

 still less will the best or most productive bees it is pos- 

 sible for man to produce ever get honey where none is to be 

 had ; but, if we can breed from our strongest and most in- 

 dustrious colonies till SO or 75 such shall gather what 100 

 are now required to do, we shall at least save what it re- 

 quires to keep the extra number of colonies. I believe we 

 would better, for a time, look for Apis dorsata in our own 

 yards. If we fail to find it, we may, perchance, find some- 

 thing even better. 



I will not give in proof what a few isolated individuals 

 have done, who are far away where distance lends en- 

 chantment, altho I might safely do so, but rather give a 

 few facts from my own experience. 



I became disgusted with the superior qualities of breeds 

 as a whole. I had found some colonies of black bees 

 greatly superior to the average Italian ; while the qualities 

 of the 3-banded Italians I had found, from many years ex- 

 perience, to be exceedingly variable. I advanced the theory 

 that great improvements might be made by careful breed- 

 ing for this purpose. That I might know what had already 

 been accomplisht I bought as good a queen as money would 

 buy from a queen-breeder who I had reason to believe had 

 for many years been trying to improve the productions of 

 his bees. I was unprejudiced, and seeking for the truth. 

 During the summer of 1898 I reared some 35 young queens 

 from this purchast queen. Of course, these mated with my 

 own drones, or drones from my old stock. 



The spring of 1899 found me with enough of this cross 

 to judge somewhat of its value. The colonies of this stock 

 were scattered thru two yards, and had the same care as my 

 old stock. 



I did not have long to wait, however, to note a differ- 

 ence after the flowers began to bloom ; for I could tell the 

 hives containing these young queens about as readily by 

 the extra amount of early honey gathered as by their color, 

 which was quite distinct from my own. The season proved 

 one of the poorest I have ever known, yet these bees showed 

 their superior working qualities during the entire season. 



In September, when I came to look my hives over to 

 see how much honey each one had for winter, I found my 

 old stock to average 10 or 12 pounds in their brood-chamber, 

 while the new stock averaged not far from 25 pounds, nearly 

 or quite enough to winter on. 



Later (in November or December), I wisht to get rid of 

 some honey in some old drone-combs, and placed them in 

 the sun on the south side of the barn out of the wind, as the 

 weather was quite cool, to see if perhaps the bees would 

 take it out. I was surprised to notice that almost every bee 

 that workt on it (and they were numerous) was the descend- 

 ant of this purchast queen, as could easily be told by the 

 color, while I had yet in my yard some 25 colonies of my old 

 stock of bees. Whether trying to gather honey at so un- 

 seasonable a time of the year is a virtue, or otherwise, I 

 will not attempt to decide, but it shows at least their vigor, 



